Missionary Baptist Church

The most prominent features of the Missionary Baptist Church are a bell tower and bay windows.

NPS Photo/S. Wilcer

Quick Facts

Location:

Cades Cove Loop Road

Significance:

While the current structure was built in 1915, Missionary Baptist Church started in 1839 when thirteen members split from the Primitive Baptist Church based on differences in beliefs concerning missions, Sunday school, and temperance societies.

Amenities

1 listed

Historical/Interpretive Information/Exhibits

The current structure of the Missionary Baptist Church was built in 1915. It includes a bell tower and a bay window behind the pulpit, added to increase floor space. The pews are unfinished wood and are arranged on each side of the center aisle. Across the road from the building is Rich Mountain Road, a route used by those who lived near the middle of Cades Cove to go directly to Tuckaleechee (near modern-day Townsend).

Missionary Baptist Church started in 1839 when thirteen members split from the Primitive Baptist Church based on differences in beliefs concerning missions, Sunday school, and temperance societies. The congregation remained small and initially met in homes and sometimes in the Methodist Church for Sunday school and worship. Like other churches in the cove, the Civil War disrupted meetings from October 1862 to 1865. There was an additional period from 1880 to 1889 in which no meetings were held with no record of reasoning. In 1889, a Sunday school was started, and the small congregation began meeting again.

In 1893, evangelist Rev. Thomas Sexton led a successful revival for the Missionary Baptist Church that resulted in the congregation almost doubling in size, going from 22 members to 40 members. After this, J.M. Saults was called as the new pastor and the first physical building for the congregation was built in 1894. The first building was on Hyatt Hill near the present-day site, replaced in 1915 by the current building. A Sunday school was started in 1898 and continued to meet until 1944, 10 years after the Great Smoky Mountains National Park was established.